The Mystery of Life
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the mystery of life and the smelly socks of joey sparks from regal park Jan Paul Schutten The Mystery of Life and the Smelly Socks of Joey Spark from Regal Park — Illustrated by Floor Rieder — Gottmer Publishing Group Haarlem, The Netherlands TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 10 Before We Really Get Started, There’s This 11 SECTION 1: WONDERS, BRAIN TWISTERS, MYSTERIES AND YOU 13 why does the paramecium (slipper animalcule) deserve a standing ovation? 14 What can a slipper animalcule do that the smartest robot can’t? 15 simple cells? 16 How many cells does it take to build a body? 17 What kinds of stuff happens in your body to keep you healthy? 17 minuscule miracles 18 What do bacteria look like? 19 How do bacteria taste? 19 Do bacteria also deserve a round of applause? 19 the black monster and death 20 What is sadder than death? 21 Is there anything that works better than nature? 21 and now: one more wonder 22 Where did you come from? 22 Who made nature work so perfectly? 23 Who can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt how life originated? 23 SECTION 2: HOW OLD IS PLANET EARTH? 25 memorizing two, dividing six, multiplying by three… then god must have been finished at six o’clock 26 Four thousand or four billion years before christ? 27 How did seashells end up on top of a mountain? 27 how can you determine how old a stone is?28 Exactly how old is the earth? 29 Does stone decay or spoil? 29 How did we go about proving how old the earth is? 29 how old is the universe? 30 How is the age of the universe calculated? 31 How long does it take a ray of sunshine to travel to earth? 31 SECTION 3: THE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING IN 1609 WORDS 33 how did the universe come to be? 34 Did atoms and molecules always exist? 35 How do you build a planet? 35 Where did the moon come from? 35 what was a day on earth like eons ago? 36 How come life originated in the sea? 37 — 5 How long did it take until there was life on earth? 37 How can you make life in a test tube? 73 And how long have people existed? 37 What is dna and why do you always come across it in tv cop shows? 73 Do you know everything there is to know now? 37 how do you build a joey spark from regal park 74 SECTION 4: THE BEST SCIENTIFIC IDEA OF ALL TIME 39 Which came first: the chicken or the egg? 75 what is the theory of evolution exactly and who came up with it? 40 Has the chicken vs. The egg question been resolved? 75 A doctor who is afraid of blood? 41 how can you ‘breath life’ into matter all by yourself? 76 Where did all these species come from? 41 Is salt alive? 77 how do you make a seventy kilo dog? 42 what did the first life on earth look like? 78 Do you have the same ancestors as an earwig? 4 3 Looking at creatures older than dinosaurs? 79 Which animals are survivors and which die? 43 Does the earth ever have a weight problem? 79 how do you turn one finch into two finches? 44 Did life on earth actually begin on earth? 79 Does all life on earth have a common ancestor? 45 SECTION 8: SURVIVING IN A PRIMORDIAL OCEAN 81 Why did it take Darwin twenty years to write his well-known book? 45 where did life on earth actually begin? 82 did people think darwin was crazy? 46 (1) Did life begin in boiling pools of mud and water? 83 Does everyone believe Darwin now? 47 (2) Or was it actually on the ocean floor? 84 Do all species constantly improve? 47 (3) Or did it begin deep underground? 84 SECTION 5: A BRIEF LOOK AT EVOLUTION 49 was there anything new under the sun? 86 how does a new species come to exist? 50 Mole holes millions of years old?! 87 Why do some species evolve faster than others? 51 Who were the biggest polluters on earth? 87 huh? how is it suddenly possible that not the best and fittest survive? 52 how does a bacterium turn into a blue whale? 88 Does a tree want to be tall? 53 What happens when you put a sponge in a meat grinder? 89 Why do rabbits have bad eyes? 53 how to make a plaster cast of a big blob of spit? 90 did evolution make a mistake? 54 How does a jellyfish become a fossil? 91 Are women crazy? 55 what inventions have made life what it is today? 92 If you’re a bird how can you fake looking bigger? 55 How can you survive without a rear end? 93 why do women want to have the children of murderous morons? 56 How can you survive without sex? 93 Why does a peacock have such a long tail? 57 how has sex changed the world? 94 How come the Irish elk is extinct? 57 Is it possible for people to survive without killing each other? 9 4 why aren’t people perfect, in spite of millions of years of evolution? 58 what would a zoo from 550 million years ago have looked like? 96 How come women get more beautiful by the day and men don’t? 59 what was the most successful animal in the past? 98 How do you become a super rabbit? 59 So who wiped out the trilobite? 99 SECTION 6: IT’S ALL ABOUT FAMILY 61 which marine animal do we originate from? 100 what are genes and why do they rule the earth? 62 Are we really descendants of the slime mold? 101 Did Darwin get it wrong? 63 SECTION 9: HALF MAN - HALF FISH 103 Which animal actually wants to die? 63 how do you change from a fish to a four-footed animal? 104 why are genes so important? 64 How special is a fish with lungs? 105 Will Leo Messi’s son also be a brilliant football player when he grows up? 65 How do gills turn into lungs? 105 What do genes actually do? 65 And how does a fish develop legs? 105 why is dying sometimes the sensible thing to do? 66 and before we go any further, my humble apologies 106 Is there anything more important than your own life? 6 6 Why do we use fossils to write on a blackboard? 107 SECTION 7: HOW DID LIFE ON EARTH ORIGINATE 69 If you dig deep enough, will you always come across fossils? 107 what is the secret of frankenstein? 70 why do you find the same types of stones in america as in africa? 108 What is life? 71 Did palm trees ever grow in the Arctic Circle? 109 Where did the first living creature on earth come from? 71 Were mammoths able to swim from the netherlands to england? 109 what was the secret of the first life on earth? 72 How old is the paw print of Tyrannosaurus rex? 109 6 — — 7 where can you find the best fossils? 110 Long live nature? 137 How do you find amphibian fossils or fish fossils? 110 Why doesn’t a shark get the hiccups, but you do? 137 What tools do you need to find fossils? 110 Why do fish work on our nerves? 138 And..? Has the fossil to end all fossils already been found? 111 Why do we get goosebumps? 138 does joey spark really have something in common with a shark? 112 ‘and how about that bombardier beetle? or the eye?’ 140 Does Joey Spark from regal park have Tiktaalik’s arm? 113 Are there actually beetles that have their own anti-aircraft guns? 140 Why does a horse’s hoof look like a person’s hand? 113 What is the secret of the bombardier beetle? 141 Do we hear with shark gills? 113 Why is the bombardier beetle proof of evolution? 141 why did you once look like a mackerel? 114 What’s the point of having weapons in paradise? 141 Why do all ‘babies’ look alike? 115 what’s wrong with your eyes? 142 Where does that funny groove under your nose come from? 115 The reason our eyes work so well 142 Why does Tweety have such a big head? 115 Where did your eyes come from? 142 how does a cell know how to grow into a tooth, nose, or toe? 116 How would you design an eye? 143 What can you best compare dna to? 116 Are we not allowed to see well? 143 Can the cells in your body talk to each other? 117 SECTION 11: FROM MOUSE TO MAN 145 How do you make a bug with extra wings? 117 what did our ancestors look like? 146 what can a virus tell us about the past? 118 Which animal do you resemble most? 147 What happens when someone has a sneezing fit three metres away from you? 119 Why do we know so little about our ancestors? 147 Did apes have the same flu as we do? 119 are we descendants of lucy? 148 why does a cow look more like a whale than a horse? 120 How can you tell from a skull if an animal walked upright? 149 How come a butterfly looks so much like a bird? 121 Why is walking upright so important? 149 Can a praying mantis play the violin? 121 Why are we so smart and they’re not? 149 and what else happened to the fish in us? 122 can anthropoid apes become just as smart as we are? 150 Is a sandpiper a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex? 123 What sorts of fossils have been found? 151 Mammals don’t lay eggs, right? 123 Why do we know so little despite all the fossils we have? 151 what wiped out the dinosaurs? 124 have scientists found eve? 152 Why don’t humans hatch from eggs? 124 Do you have Neanderthal blood? 152 How deadly can a meteorite be? 125 Did Eve actually exist? 153 From mouse to man? 125 What will our great-grandchildren look like down the line? 153 SECTION 10: HAS THE STORY OF EVOLUTION REALLY BEEN PROVEN? 127 is there alien life? and what does it look like? 154 evolution: sense or nonsense? 128 Why would aliens most likely be meat-eaters? 155 Do all scientists believe in evolution? 129 Will aliens live to be ten thousand years old? 155 ‘the theory of evolution is a theory.